David and Goliath

You know the story, but have you ever argued that David walked into the battle with an advantage? (Other than the ultimate advantage of having God on his side.) Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book, David and Goliath, makes just that argument. And not just about David, but about underdogs in general. You get a hint in his subtitle: “Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.” Gladwell has a masterful knack for surprising readers with unconventional wisdom. He does it in a way that is backed by substantial academic research (by other experts) and yet is extremely readable. In David and Goliath, Gladwell argues that it can actually be an advantage to be an underdog. And perhaps more importantly, that the things that we consider to be advantages often work against us. For Goliath, his size and armor made him slow and immobile, an easy target for an accurately aimed rock. During “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, the British assumed that using the might of the army would quickly repress any rebellion, but instead it incited a kind of resistance that they couldn’t easily stop. In contrast, Gladwell cites examples of underdogs whose remarkable successes came because they didn’t do things the conventional way. They knew they couldn’t “win” by following the normal “rules,” so these underdogs beat the odds by creating different sets of rules that played to their advantage. They discovered cures for cancer, changed the course of the civil rights movement, and took a group of basketball neophytes to a national championship. David and Goliath will cause anyone in a position of leadership to pause. After all, how often do we accept the conventional wisdom about what gives us an advantage (or puts us at a disadvantage)? As Gladwell says in the subtitle of one chapter: “You wouldn’t wish dyslexia on your child. Or would you?” It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>